


send me dead flowers (every morning)

by maplemarcher



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Story Mode
Genre: Adventure, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Minor Violence, Monsters, Near Death Experiences, Nightmares, Sick Character, Slow Burn, The Nether (Minecraft), Vomiting, Zombies, hints of Jesse/Petra, i just love making Axel suffer I guess, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21576769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplemarcher/pseuds/maplemarcher
Summary: Axel's never been a huge fan of flowers. They're nice to look at, sure, but they don't do much other than look pretty. Look pretty and, apparently, grow in the lungs of those unfortunate enough to experience unrequited love.On the journey to retrieve the ingredients needed for the cure to the mysterious disease he's contracted, Axel battles with a terrible choice: live, but have his capacity to love stripped from him, or die. The answer should be simple. Unfortunately for him, nothing ever is.
Relationships: Axel/Lukas (Minecraft), Lukas/Axel (Minecraft)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	send me dead flowers (every morning)

**Author's Note:**

> Woo, okay! Here we go!!  
> This has been in my head for MONTHS. I hope y'all like it, I really do. I have so much I could say about this, but I won't waste your time. Enjoy!

Axel’s had plenty of reasons to have a scratchy throat before. A cold, inhaling too much gunpowder or smoke, having something stuck in his throat, having just woken up, being incredibly thirsty, and the list goes on. Every time his throat has itched, it’s been irritating, but never unbearable. The scratchiness usually fades after a while, if he has enough tea with honey in it (that Olivia makes him), or if he drinks enough water. It’s a minor inconvenience, albeit an annoying one.

This time is different.

No matter how much tea Axel drinks, the itch in his throat doesn’t go away. He tries to sleep it off, but it doesn’t work. He forces himself to cough, but it only makes it worse. He tries every home remedy in the book, but none of them work. He even tries a potion from Ivor, but that doesn’t work either. It’s infuriating. He can’t work on his fireworks, stay in the library with Lukas too long, help Jesse build, help Olivia with her redstone work (not that he wants to anyway), or even spar with Petra. Any trace of dust irritates his throat and breathing too heavily makes it burn.

He’s woken up in the middle of the night by a terrible coughing fit. It’s not just his throat this time—it’s his whole chest. It _burns_ and _stings_ and feels like there are _knives_ being driven into his lungs and ribs and windpipe. Axel coughs and retches on the floor of his room, held up by shaking arms and breathing in ragged gasps. There’s something stuck. He has to get it out. He can’t breathe. He can’t _breathe._

After what feels like hours, the lump in his throat dislodges. Something is propelled out of his mouth by a particularly powerful cough, and it hits the floor without so much as a sound. Despite it being gone, the ache remains. Axel staggers to his feet and fumbles for the light. He has to see what’s been causing him so much grief. What he sees makes him both confused and uneasy.

There’s a scattering of lilac petals on the floor.

“It’s called hanahaki disease,” Ivor explains to him the following morning. “It’s incredibly rare these days, but centuries ago there was something of an epidemic.” He hands Axel a book opened to a page with unsettling illustrations of thorny vines wrapped around a pair of lungs.

“What causes it?” Axel asks as he flips through the book. There are more illustrations he doesn’t pay much attention to and pressed flowers sealed to the pages with wax.

“Unrequited love.”

Axel’s gaze snaps up. “Unrequited _what?”_

 _"Love,_ you dense fool,” Ivor snaps.

“I—I’m not in— _love?_ No, no way,” Axel says. “I’ve had crushes before and the person hasn’t liked me back, but _this_ has never happened!”

“It must be deeper than that,” Ivor says, taking the book out of Axel’s hands and turning to a marked page. “That’s the only possible cause.”

“Okay,” Axel says, feeling completely and utterly baffled. “But why _me?_ Didn’t you say this was rare?”

“It is,” Ivor agrees. “Incredibly rare. But it says here that only people with a certain genetic mutation can contract hanahaki, and that once the gene has mutated it gets passed down the bloodline. One of your ancestors must have had the genetic mutation.”

“Okay,” Axel says, more slowly this time. “Why is it rare if it’s just genetics? Wouldn’t it be like, I dunno, more common?”

“Not necessarily,” Ivor says, closing the book with a snap. He isn’t looking Axel in the eye.

“Why not?” he presses. Ivor sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, though he doesn’t look irritated.

“Because most people who contract hanahaki disease die.”

Axel stares at him. “There’s gotta be some sort of cure, right?”

“Only two,” Ivor says gravely. “The first is the most obvious: getting the person causing the disease to fall in love with you. That’s known as the ‘natural cure’. The second is a potion that is extremely difficult to make, and with a terrible side effect. Some say it’s worse than death.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Axel says. Worse than death? What could be worse than _death?_

“Once you drink the potion, it kills the flowers growing in your lungs.”

“Sounds pretty good so far.”

“Allow me to _finish!”_ Ivor glares at him for a moment before clearing his throat and speaking again. “If the flowers wither away, which is what the natural cure causes, nothing else happens. But if the flowers are killed, they take something else with them: your ability to feel and understand love.”

“Well, I guess love is what got me here in the first place, so it sounds great to me,” Axel says. He pauses to cough into the crook of his arm.

“Not just romantic love,” Ivor sighs. “Any sort of love. Friendship, familial, compassion, even love for the things you do. You’ll still have your other emotions, but you’ll be completely devoid of love.”

_"Seriously?”_

“Do you see why most people who contracted the disease died from it? Most chose not to drink the potion. Even those who did didn’t always get to—as I said before, the potion is incredibly difficult to make, and often it took longer to brew than the person had left.”

Axel’s flabbergasted. He has two choices: become a passionless shell of his former self or die. He knows the person he has feelings for will never feel the same way. He’d acted like he had no idea who it was, but in reality, he knew the cause of this immediately. Ivor can probably see right through him, but that won’t stop him from putting up a front. Not in front of him, not in front of anyone. He can’t let anyone know about this. He can’t seem weak. He has to be stronger than his stupid traitor of a heart. Yet, even as he thinks this, he can feel petals sticking in his throat.

“There’s got to be another way, right?” Axel says. He’s trying to not sound bothered, but the way his voice wavers betrays him.

“Not that I know of,” Ivor says. He’s looking through his many bookshelves as he speaks, plucking books from them, thumbing through the pages, and snapping them shut with a shake of his head. “But I want to try.”

“Well we’ve got to at least—! Wait, you do?”

“Yes.” Ivor disappears among the shelves, but Axel can still hear him. “From a practical standpoint, I should already be brewing the potion and shoving it down your throat. However, I know what I would do in this situation. Rather, what I wouldn’t do.”

“I’m surprised I’m getting sympathy from _you,_ of all people,” Axel remarks, crossing his arms. He yelps in surprise as a book hits him on the top of his head.

“I am incredibly emotionally sensitive!” Ivor barks, glaring down at him from a ladder he uses to reach the shelves near the ceiling. “Do not underestimate how far my understanding and sympathy can reach! I may not always act like it, but I care about you and the others as if you were my own children!”

“Alright man, jeez,” Axel grumbles.

“Don’t tell anyone I said that,” Ivor says as he descends the ladder, a few books in his arms.

“As long as you don’t tell anyone I have hanahaki,” Axel says.

“About that,” Ivor says. “There are a few things I’ll need to make the curative potion.”

“I haven’t decided what I want to do yet!”

“In the event that you decide to cure this disease with the potion, I want to be sure I have the materials to do it. I’ll be working on a cure of my own while you’re gone.”

“Okay, so what are they?”

Ivor opens one of his books and flips through it until he finds the page he’s looking for. “Let’s see here…the dust of a flawless emerald...the juice of an enchanted golden apple...blue nether wart...and a handful of petals from the lungs of the infected.”

 _"Blue_ nether wart? Does that even exist?”

“It does. In the deepest part of the Nether, in the very center of it,” Ivor says. He’s back on the ladder, wheeling it around the shelves.

Axel is getting more and more frustrated. Why can’t anything be simple? His breath hitches, and he’s sent into a coughing fit. He doubles over, clutching at his chest with one hand and coughing into the other. Ivor’s hand is on his back, and it stays there until his hacking ceases, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Axel looks down at the lilac petals in his shaking hand and feels the color drain from his face. He’s been hoping that he’d imagined them, but there they are. Real.

“Well,” he says shakily, “here’s one ingredient down.”

* * *

Ivor sends Axel on his way, assuring him that he’ll tell Jesse about their new quest while keeping his malady a secret. Axel’s grateful. He goes to his room to prepare for the journey ahead as soon as Ivor dismisses him. His mind is racing with ways to hide his illness. Writing the cough off as a bad cold will be easy enough. The petals are going to be the real issue. Hopefully their journey will take them through a flower forest so he’ll have an excuse.

Lost in his thoughts, Axel doesn’t notice the knock on his door until it’s escalated to pounding. He shoves one last thing in his bag and answers, swinging the door open so suddenly that the visitor is unable to stop mid-knock and gives him a solid punch to the chest.

“Ow,” Axel says dryly, narrowing his eyes at Petra.

“Sorry,” she says with a shrug, though she clearly isn’t all that remorseful. “It took you so long to answer that I thought you’d gone deaf.”

“Nah, my hearing’s fine,” Axel says dismissively. “What’s up?”

“Ivor’s got a mission for us. Something about brewing a special potion.” Petra shrugs again. “I don’t know all the details, but Jesse wants to leave around noon.”

“Alright, cool. Where are we headed?”

“Mountains first. Pack some climbing gear!”

She wanders off to her own room, presumably to get ready. Axel closes the door and double checks that he has everything he’ll need (and some things he won’t, too). He’s not too worried—Olivia always packs too much. It’s up to interpretation whether it’s out of anxiety or cautiousness. Once he’s satisfied, he shoulders his bag and heads to the common room. He’s the first one there for once.

Axel collapses onto the couch, letting his head hang back on the cushions as he stares at the ceiling. The Order hall is much quieter than normal as its residents ready themselves for a new adventure. The only sound in the room is the gently crackling fire and Axel’s slightly ragged breathing. He sighs and closes his eyes. What happens if they don’t find the ingredients? What happens if they _do?_ Will he really be able to go through life with no compassion, no passion, no love for his friends? Just the thought makes his stomach twist uncomfortably. The alternative isn’t much better.

He loves…he loves not…he loves…he loves not…

“You awake?”

Axel lifts his head to see Lukas standing there, arms crossed and a slight smile on his lips. He’s already wearing his armor, those stupid goggles that he doesn’t even really need included. When Axel had asked why he had them in the first place, Lukas had gotten flustered and avoided the question altogether. Axel had come to the conclusion that he probably thought they made him look cool. They actually make him look like a huge dork.

“Yeah, just resting my eyes,” Axel says. “Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Bummer,” Lukas says as he sits on the couch beside him. “Just your luck, right?”

“I’ll be fine,” Axel says with a shrug. “We tend not to get much sleep on quests anyway.”

“That’s true,” Lukas agrees. “Do you know what we’re supposed to be doing?”

“Petra said we’re getting some potion ingredients for Ivor.” Axel pauses to clear his throat. “I guess he’s getting too old to get them himself.”

Lukas chuckles, and their conversation ends. Axel goes back to resting his head on the back of the couch with his eyes closed, trying to focus on the warmth coming from the fireplace rather than the warmth from the person sitting next to him. Lukas is already writing. The scratch of his quill doesn’t help Axel distract himself. He swears he can feel the plants in his lungs growing.

The remaining members of the New Order of the Stone trickle into the common room. Jesse pats Axel’s head as they enter, and he smiles to himself. They chat with Lukas and Petra until Olivia arrives, her bag full to nearly bursting. Her eyebrows raise when she sees Axel on the couch; he’s usually the one everyone else is waiting on. As she sits down, Jesse stands in front of the fireplace. It’s where they always stand when they explain the latest mission.

“So, here’s what’s going on,” Jesse says. “Ivor needs us to get some ingredients for a potion to cure a rare disease.”

“What is it?” Olivia asks.

“He wouldn’t tell me,” Jesse says with a shrug. “He wouldn’t say who it was for either. I guess they asked him not to tell anyone.”

“Weird,” Petra remarks.

Jesse shrugs again before continuing to go over the details of the mission. Axel isn’t really listening; he already knows what they have to do. He’s the only one who knows why they have to do it and who they have to do it for, though, and that feeling is completely new to him. He’s not sure he likes it. Normally he wouldn’t be able to stand keeping secrets from his friends, but this is different. It’s something that would worry them to no end. They don’t need that. Axel zones back in just as Jesse finishes the mission briefing and everyone begins to stand up.

“Ready guys?” Jesse says, gripping the straps of their bag. “New Order of the Stone, roll out!”

“We need to work on that catchphrase,” Petra says.

“What about ‘onward to adventure’?” Lukas suggests.

“Too wordy,” Olivia says. “How about ‘to glory’?”

“That sounds more like a battle cry,” Axel says.

“Let’s just go,” Jesse sighs.

“Wait, wait! ‘Order of the Stone, assemble!’”

“That’s good, but I feel like someone else has used that before.”

“’Here we go’?”

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Petra says as she walks out the door.

“Hey! Wait for us!” Jesse exclaims, following her.

The rest of them follow closely behind, out of the hall and into the sunshine. Axel sighs contentedly as he feels its gentle warmth seeping into his skin. He takes a deep breath in, only for it to catch in his throat and end in a small coughing fit. When he takes his hand away from his mouth, a single lilac petal sits in his palm. He shakes it off, letting it fall to the ground.

Hopefully this won’t take too long.

* * *

The nearest mountains are a few days’ journey away from Beacontown. It gets steadily colder as they approach the peaks in the distance, and Axel is grateful for his thick jacket. He isn’t sure how Lukas isn’t freezing in his leather one. Then again, Axel is almost always cold. One of the few times he’d been completely comfortable had been in Boom Town in the middle of the desert. He wishes their quest had taken them there rather than the mountains. There are emeralds in desert temples sometimes, right?

Unfortunately, however, the mountains are where they have to go. Axel supposes it could be worse. They could be going to the middle of the ocean or to a place where spikes of ice stretch up to the sky. At least they have enough blankets to cover the bottoms of their tents to keep the cold out thanks to Olivia. Her over-preparedness comes in handy from time to time.

As they approach the towering peaks that disappear into the clouds, the five of them encounter a village. It’s the biggest one Axel has ever seen. Not only that, but the buildings look a bit different than the typical village. The houses are more than boxes with a roof on top—they’re different shapes and sizes, with colored glass and small hedges in the front. Lukas points all of this out to him, his eyes alight and his grin threatening to split his face in half. Axel looks over his shoulder as he furiously sketches the architecture.

“The villagers might be able to tell us if there are any emerald veins nearby,” Olivia says. “We should go and ask.”

“Do any of us speak Villager though?” Jesse asks.

“I’ve been dabbling in it,” Lukas says. “I wouldn’t be able to have a super deep conversation or anything, but I should be able to ask for directions.”

“Then we’re going in,” Jesse says with a decisive nod.

There’s a path marked with spruce fences leading into the village. It’s clear of snow, though the grass still crunches with frost under their feet. The village is bustling with activity, and at first, no one takes notice as they enter (other than the iron golem that looms over them, its red eyes glowing as it practically dares them to cause trouble). Axel looks around in slight awe, marveling at the sheer number of villagers that surround them. He catches the eye of a blacksmith, standing uncertainly in the doorway of what looks like their forge, and waves. The blacksmith gives him a small smile in response. Just as Axel considers approaching them, they disappear down the street toward the center of the village.

“Guys, look at this,” Olivia says, hushed yet excited. “There are _redstone lamps_ here!” She points across the street to a softly glowing lamppost. “I’ve never seen villagers use redstone before!”

“We are not exactly your typical village, are we?”

There’s a woman standing behind them, the blacksmith at her side and an air of authority surrounding her. She speaks again before anyone can react.

“My name is Bell. Welcome to our village,” she says. She turns to the blacksmith and says something in Villager, and they nod and return to their forge.

“You speak our language?” Petra says, flabbergasted.

Bell nods. “Most of us know a little, but I am the only one who is fluent. Pardon my accent. What brings you to our village?”

“Uh, we’re looking for emeralds,” Jesse says. “Do you know if there are any veins of them around here?”

“The mountains surrounding us have been exhausted of their emerald supply,” Bell says. “But I know of another place where you may find some. Come with me.”

Bell puts her arms in front of her, tucking her hands away into the sleeves of her deep red coat and leads them down the main street of the village. Others look at them as they pass, whispering to each other and curiosity in their eyes. The only one who takes no notice is Lukas; he’s still writing, barely looking up as they make their way to wherever Bell is taking them. Axel grabs him by the shoulder to stop him from colliding with a villager carrying a small bundle of woolen blankets.

“Oh! Sorry,” Lukas says. The villager gives him a curious look, and he blushes and tries again in their language. She smiles and pats him on the arm, saying something that makes Lukas smile. As she does this, Axel sees a tiny face peering out of the blankets, staring up at him with wide eyes. He smiles, and the baby blows a raspberry at him.

“What’d she say?” Axel asks as they catch up with the rest of the group.

“I didn’t catch all of it, but she said something about me being a polite boy,” Lukas says.

“That’s just because she doesn’t know you.”

Lukas elbows him in the side, and Axel grins. He’s about to say something else when Petra calls for them to catch up. When they do, they see Bell standing in front of their friends, staring at the mountain closest to the village. There’s a fortress built into the side of it, casting a sizeable shadow on the snowy plains. Axel can see a large red and gold flag waving from the top of it despite the distance.

“There was a woman who lived in that fortress,” Bell says. “Whenever she came to our village, she had many emeralds in her pockets. She traded with us frequently. It is abandoned now.”

“What happened?” Jesse asks.

“She simply stopped coming,” Bell says. “Her fortress is full of monsters. You may find what you are looking for there, if you would be willing to look. But not today. The sun will set soon, and you must be tired from your journey. We have beds to spare.”

“Oh, we couldn’t—”

“You could. There is always enough fire to welcome new friends.” Bell smiles. “Come. It has been a long time since we have seen people of your kind. There will be many excited to meet you and hear any tales you have to tell.”

She doesn’t give them a chance to politely decline. Bell turns on her heel and marches back into the village, leaving the rest of them to hurriedly chase after her, Jesse sliding a little on the snow-covered street. Axel’s looking forward to huddling in front of a furnace with a blanket wrapped around him and a cup of hot chocolate in his hands, if he’s lucky. Bell leads them to a large building with a literal bell just outside of the door. Axel can hear quiet chatter coming from inside.

The building turns out to be a huge dining room that looks like it could fit the whole village inside. There are people inside, eating steaming bowls of stew and chatting. There’s also a huge furnace in the corner, surrounded by cushions and thick, colorful blankets. Axel makes a beeline for it and plops down on the biggest cushion he can find, letting out a content sigh. The smell of burning coal makes his throat itch even more than it already does, and he coughs into his arm.

“This will help cough,” a voice beside him says. Axel looks up to see the same blacksmith from earlier, holding a mug. They press it into Axel’s hands, and he can tell just by looking that it’s tea absolutely _destroyed_ with honey.

“Oh, sweet, thanks,” he says as he takes the mug and downs its contents. It tastes different than the tea Olivia makes him, but it’s still delicious.

“Made from mint,” the blacksmith says. They put their hand on their chest. “Buckle.”

“Axel,” Axel replies. “Nice to meet you.”

Buckle smiles. “Bring the mug when you are finished, okay?”

“Okay,” Axel says with a smile. Buckle nods and leaves him be.

Axel sets his tea on top of the furnace to keep it warm and grabs a blanket knitted into a green and white diamond pattern. It’s warm, soft, and just what he needed. He looks over to the tables, where Jesse is already surrounded by villagers. They’re clearly recounting one of their many adventures, and their audience is listening with rapt attention. Petra is showing off her sword, Lukas is showing a group of children the drawings in one of his journals, and Olivia is coming over to join Axel by the furnace.

“This place is amazing,” Olivia says as she sits down next to him. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Me either,” Axel says. “I wonder what makes it different?”

“Who knows?” Olivia says with a shrug. “I’m just glad we found it. I was _not_ looking forward to another night in a tent.”

“Me either,” Axel agrees. He’s still watching Lukas, who seems to be trying to speak Villager. His cheeks redden as the children laugh, and it makes Axel smile. It also makes the back of his throat tickle. He clears his throat, but the tickle doesn’t go away. It must be another petal threatening to rise to the surface.

“Are you okay? You’ve been coughing a little,” Olivia asks, her brows furrowed.

“It’s the cold air, I think. I’m not used to it. One of the villagers made me tea, though.” He gestures to the mug sitting on top of the furnace. “They said it was made with mint.”

“I’ve been wanting to try that!” Olivia says excitedly. “Is it good? Can I try some?”

“You wouldn’t like it. There’s a ton of honey in it.”

“Ugh, of course there is. You and your sweet tooth.”

“I’m a big guy! I need a lot of sugar to give me energy.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

Axel nudges her with his shoulder, and she laughs. The others join them at the furnace soon after that, apart from Jesse, who’s gained a few more audience members. They’re standing on the bench at the table now, miming sword slashes. One of the onlookers gasps, enraptured. Jesse pretends to stab something with their sword and makes an explosion sound effect, and the crowd claps. Jesse puts their hands on their hips, smiling and looking a little proud of themselves.

More villagers come in as the night goes on. They have bowls of rabbit stew with chunks of potato in it and freshly made bread still warm from the oven for dinner. Axel joins in on the storytelling. He even shows off some of his fireworks, sending them flying into the night sky while people watch, mesmerized. Bell shows them to a collection of small rooms above the dining hall when it gets late. Each room has a fireplace and a soft bed with a heavy quilt. Axel is one of the last to head upstairs, bidding everyone goodnight and collapsing on the bed as soon as he pulls off his boots.

Axel isn’t sure how long he stares as the log ceiling above him, tuning out the crackle of the fireplace and trying to sift through the thoughts bouncing around in his head. They get jostled whenever he coughs, which he does frequently. A few petals come up, but not nearly as many as when he first contracted hanahaki. He brushes them on to the floor, not bothering to watch them flutter downwards. He can take care of them in the morning. There’s too much to think about and too much sleep to be had at the moment.

With a sigh, Axel crawls under the quilt and pulls it up to his chin. It’s soft, warm, and just heavy enough to be incredibly comfortable. He gives himself a moment to focus on how warm and snuggly he feels before letting his mind drift. Lukas is the first thing to enter his thoughts. Lukas scribbling in his journal, Lukas clumsily speaking in Villager, Lukas looking at the architecture around them with nothing short of pure glee on his face. Axel’s throat burns, and he curses under his breath, burying his face in the pillow. Damn his stupid heart. Damn whichever one of his ancestors passed down the gene that made him susceptible to this disease. Damn Lukas for being so likeable and worming his way into Axel’s affections despite how hostile their relationship was at the beginning. Axel sighs again, his breath hitching on the exhale, and closes his eyes.

When he opens them again, sunlight is streaming in through the window. He goes downstairs to find the rest of the New Order already having breakfast. Petra slides a mug of hot chocolate in his direction when he sits down.

“Morning,” she says.

“It’s too fucking cold,” Axel mumbles in response.

Petra rolls her eyes with a small smile and pats him on the shoulder. “You’re cheery.” She glances at her hand and does a double-take, raising an eyebrow.

“What?”

“You’ve got flower petals on you.” Petra brushes a few petals off of his jacket, and Axel’s blood runs cold. “Wonder where those came from.”

“There was a potted flower on the nightstand in my room,” Axel says a little too quickly.

Petra shrugs noncommittally and takes a long sip of coffee. Axel sighs internally and turns his attention to the food that Jesse’s bringing to the table.

It isn’t long before they finish breakfast and start making their way to the fortress on the mountainside. The sunlight glinting off of the snow is painfully bright. Axel finds himself dislike these mountains the more time he spends in them. The villagers are nice, but he can’t imagine staying here for any longer than a few days. He’s sure he’d turn into a popsicle after that.

By the time the five of them reach the bottom of the staircase that leads to the fortress’ entrance, the sun is directly above their heads. Axel rubs his hands together, attempting to will some warmth back into them. The others are doing the same; Petra seems to be the only one who isn’t bothered. She’s climbing the ice-coated stairs like it’s nothing, her breathing hardly even labored. She’s the first to reach the top. The rest of them follow shortly after, out of breath and cheeks flushed from the cold.

The entrance of the fortress is nearly pitch black. Sunlight creeps into the doorway, only to be swallowed by darkness a few feet in. A beautifully carved dark oak door is wide open, barely hanging onto the hinges, large splinters of wood scattered on the floor. Axel can see that the flag whipping in the wind above them is slightly tattered. The sight of that combined with the state of the door sends a chill down his spine.

“What happened here?” Olivia murmurs, tracing one finger down a crack in the stone bricks.

“It must have been a pretty big attack,” Jesse says. “Whatever drove who lived here out could still be in there. Be careful.” They unsheathe their sword, and Petra does the same. The glow of their enchanted weapons is enough to light the space just in front of them, but not much more than that. Axel digs a torch out of his bag and lights it, and the New Order steps inside the fortress.

Axel’s half expecting the door to slam shut behind them, but that doesn’t happen. It swings uselessly in the wind, its creaks echoing down the long corridor that is the entrance. The flickering light from Axel’s torch makes their shadows waver along the walls, adding to the foreboding atmosphere. The corridor finally widens into a large chamber lit from a skylight made from stained glass designed to look like a rose. Much of the glass is covered with snow, making the light dapple on the floor. There are three hallways branching off of the center chamber, not counting the one behind them.

“This place is _huge,_ ” Axel remarks as he looks around at the tall stone brick walls. “It must’ve taken years to build.”

“It might take us that long to find anything,” Olivia grumbles.

“Hey, don’t think like that,” Jesse says. “We’ll find that emerald. The person who lived here must have had a lot of them if she traded with the villagers a lot.”

“How will we know what a flawless one looks like?” Lukas asks.

“I’ll know,” Petra says. “You learn to spot flaws when you’re in my line of work. My, uh, old line of work I mean.”

“Good enough for me,” Lukas says with a nod. “Which way should we head first?”

“Let’s start on the left and work our way over,” Jesse suggests.

“Should we split up?” Petra asks.

“Probably not. We’re in unfamiliar territory and close quarters. Sticking together would be a better option.”

The rest of them agree, and they start down the left hallway. The fading carpet is plush underneath their feet, muffling their footsteps. The occasional painting lines the walls. Everything is silent until Axel hears a low, gurgling groan coming through the wall. There’s a door up ahead, on its last hinges much like the one at the entrance. A shadow passes in front of the doorway, its movements slow and jerky. The others have already noticed. Lukas takes out his bow and creeps to the door, his footsteps made silent from a combination of stealth and the carpet covering the stone. He fires an arrow, and there’s a soft thud as the zombie falls to the floor. Lukas motions them forward, indicating that the coast is clear.

“Okay, zombies,” Petra says. She pushes the limp body over with her foot and yanks the arrow out of its neck, flicking the blood onto the floor. “Nothing we can’t handle.” She holds the arrow out to Lukas, who takes it with a small grimace.

Olivia is already rooting through the chests in what looks to be a storage room, having taken the torch from Axel and placed it in an empty holder on the wall. Axel joins her, opening the one nearest to him. A rush of excitement washes over him as he sees the bottles of potions inside, neatly organized in small wooden compartments. He grabs as many as he can, not even bothering to look at the labels on the bottles.

“Axel, that’s not what we’re here for,” Jesse says from behind him. He doesn’t even need to look to know that they’re standing there with their arms crossed.

“Might as well take what we can get, right?” he says. “This place is abandoned anyway.”

Jesse considers this for a moment. “Well, good point I guess.”

The five of them take a while to look through the chests. They end up finding one full to the brim with emeralds, but none of them are flawless. That doesn’t stop anyone from taking a few (or a few handfuls). The situation in the rest of the rooms of the left hallway is similar; a library full of books, a forge packed with gold and iron, an enchantment room full to bursting with lapis lazuli and enchantment scrolls, but no emeralds. The only green things they come across are more zombies. The center hallway isn’t much better. One of the doors has been blasted into smithereens, the walls and floor nothing but scorched rubble. Another is nothing but cobwebs (and an angry spider that chases them back down the hallway, hissing).

The corridor on the right is notably different from the other two. The walls are made out of wood, for one, and it’s dimly lit by dying lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It feels much more personal and cozier than the previous two had. There are also more zombies. Many more zombies. They’re wandering up and down the hall, scratching the walls, entering and exiting the rooms aimlessly.

“Why aren’t any of them coming out here?” Jesse murmurs as they stand at the entrance to the final hallway in the main chamber, looking down at the small horde in front of them.

“It’s the skylight,” Olivia says. “The sunlight coming through would burn them up.”

“Oh yeah. Right.” Jesse turns to the rest of them, their brow furrowed slightly. “Are you guys sure about going down there?”

“They’re just zombies. We’ll be fine as long as we keep our guard up,” Petra says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “There are a lot of them, though.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Olivia says. “Mind giving me some of your arrows, Lukas?”

“Sure,” Lukas says. He takes his quiver off his back and hands it to Olivia. She sets it on the floor along her bag, cracks her fingers, and sprinkles some redstone dust on the floor from a pouch on her belt. In a matter of minutes, she’s got a small machine set up. She loads Lukas’ arrows in a dispenser, presses a button, and sends the projectiles flying. Most of the zombies shambling in the corridor fall to the ground, already dead or made immobile.

“Nice!” Axel exclaims. He gives Olivia a high five (probably a bit too hard; she’s rubbing her palm afterward) with a huge grin.

The remaining zombies are easy pickings. Once they’re taken care of, the five of them have no problem with splitting up and searching the remaining rooms. Axel takes the kitchen. He doesn’t think he’ll find anything edible, unfortunately—it smells of rotting food. He pulls his jacket up a little further and buries his nose in the collar in an attempt to mask the smell. It works, for the most part. He still gags when he opens a chest lined with melting ice and full of rotten meat.

There isn’t anything of value that Axel can find, so he steps out of the kitchen and into the hallway, still coughing from the smell. He pulls his jacket back down and finds the front of it full of flower petals. Oh, right. He’d almost forgotten. Not that the constant itching in the back of his throat would ever let him forget completely. He picks the petals out of his jacket and tosses them into the chest of meat, holding his breath. No one should ever have a reason to open that, especially if he tells the others what’s in there.

Axel wanders back out into the hallway, looking for any rooms that aren’t being searched and stepping over dead zombies. He goes all the way to the end and is about to turn around when he sees a closed door, marked with deep scratches but otherwise intact. Interest piqued, he tries the knob, finding it turns easily. There’s something blocking the door from opening, however. He braces against it and pushes, and whatever’s blocking it moves slowly, scraping loudly against the floor. After a minute or two, the door’s open enough for Axel to squeeze through.

The room he enters looks like an office. The thing blocking the door is a desk with a few chairs stacked on top of it, and there are a few leather-bound journals scattered on the floor. The hair on the back of Axel’s neck stands up. He spins on his heel and steps out of the way just as a golden sword arcs through the space he’d just been occupying. Its blade gets stuck in the desk, and the zombie wielding it attempt to dislodge it, its spindly arms straining.

Axel gathers his bearings and looks the zombie up and down, sizing it up. It looks different than the others they’ve encountered—stronger, more human, less rotted, and holding a golden sword with an emerald in the pommel. Its long hair is so bright blonde that it’s almost white, and there are tears in its sweater revealing messily-stitched wounds. Axel realizes why it looks fresher than the other zombies in the fortress just as it sets the sword free and moves towards him again, weapon raised above its head.

Axel dodges to the side of the zombie’s second swing and kicks its legs out from underneath it, sending it tumbling to the floor in a heap. The sword clatters out of its hand, and Axel kicks it across the room. It gurgles and grasps his pant legs, attempting to haul itself up. Axel shakes his leg out of its grip and grabs its sweater, yanking it upwards and holding it in a headlock. It growls and claws at his jacket, but it’s too thick for its nails or teeth to do any damage.

“I’m sorry,” Axel murmurs. One hand on either side of its head, a quick twist, and it goes limp. Axel doesn’t let it drop to the ground. Instead, he lays it on its back on the floor and closes its eyes. He stares at it for a moment before grabbing the sword off the floor and leaving the room. He meets Lukas in Petra in the hallway.

“Find anything?” Lukas asks.

“Yeah, actually,” Axel says. He holds up the sword, and Petra and Lukas’ eyes widen. Petra takes it from him and examines the jewel in the pommel.

“Well?” Lukas presses.

Petra looks up with a grin. “This is it.” Lukas grins, and Axel and Petra exchange a high-five. “Where’d you find this anyway?”

Axel deflates by a fraction. “On a zombie. I think it was the girl who built this place.”

Both Lukas’ and Petra’s smiles fade. Axel shows them the office where he had the zombie encounter. Lukas picks up one of the journals, and Petra stares at the zombie on the floor. She says something about telling Jesse and Olivia and walks out briskly, leaving Lukas and Axel alone. Axel disassembles the barricade on the door. It’s silent except for the occasional flip of a page and scrape of wood against wood.

“She must have gotten bitten before she barricaded herself up in here,” Lukas says.

“That must have sucked,” Axel says.

“Yeah,” Lukas agrees quietly. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like. Knowing you’re going to die and not being able to do anything about it would just…it would be terrible.”

Axel desperately wants to change the subject. “Why are you taking her journals?”

“The villagers might want them,” Lukas says as he tucks a few of them away into his bag. “They’re going to be one of the only things left of her, and from the way Bell talked about her, she was pretty well loved.”

“That’s…actually really cool of you,” Axel says.

“You say that like I’m heartless.” Lukas sounds annoyed, but Axel can see the traces of a smile on his lips.

“Not heartless, just an asshole sometimes,” he teases.

“That’s funny coming from you.”

“I’m a _loveable_ asshole. It’s part of my charm.”

“So I’m not loveable?”

“I said you’re an asshole _sometimes,_ not all the time. That’s my shtick.”

“At least you’re self-aware.”

Axel sticks his tongue out at him, and Lukas chuckles. They leave the office to join the others in the hallway, closing the door behind them. Petra’s holding the sword out to Jesse, who takes it gingerly and looks at it with sad eyes. They look up as Axel and Lukas join the group.

“We can’t take this.”

“What?” Axel says incredulously.

“This sword is all they’ll have left of her,” Jesse says. “We can’t just take the emerald out of it.”

Axel’s about to argue when Lukas speaks up. “We could always explain the situation and ask. It couldn’t hurt, right?”

Jesse considers his suggestion for a moment before nodding, and Axel lets out a sigh of relief. The five of them then take stock of the loot they acquired, both as a group and individually. They’d all been keeping an eye out for enchanted apples, but unfortunately haven’t come across any. It’s decided that Lukas and Olivia will do some research on where to find them while Jesse, Petra, and Axel give the golden sword to Bell once they return to the village.

As they’re making their way down the mountain, Axel turns back to look at the fortress one last time. It juts out proudly from the mountain, still impressive and intimidating despite its slowly declining appearance. Axel hears the cry of a hawk and looks up at the top of the flagpole, catching a glimpse of the huge bird before it flies away into the vast blue sky.

* * *

The sun is just beginning to touch the horizon when they get back to the village. Axel’s sore from a day of travelling and adventuring, and he wants nothing more than to collapse into the soft bed waiting for him above the dining hall. There are other things to take care of first, though. Lukas and Olivia head straight for the library, not even bothering to drop off their bags. Jesse, Axel, and Petra ask around for Bell. One of the villagers takes them to her house. It’s small but cozy, with a few small bushes in front of it and smoke puffing out of a squat brick chimney. Jesse knocks on the door. Bell answers, and when she sees them, she looks almost surprised.

“You are back,” she says. “Come in. Leave your shoes at the door.”

Axel keeps his hand on the pommel of the golden sword he’s slipped through one of his belt loops as he toes off his boots. Bell doesn’t seem to have noticed it yet. She’s over by the furnace, heating a pot of water and pulling a jar down from one of her shelves. She gestures to the couch in front of the fireplace, and the three of them sit down. The gentle bubble of the boiling water, crackle of the fire, and Bell’s quiet humming makes for a comfortable atmosphere. That’s ruined by the circumstances of their visit, though. Axel bounces his leg as they wait. Bell sets teacups down in front of them and pours each of them a cup, nodding wordlessly when they thank her. She sits in a chair with her own cup of tea and looks at the three of them expectantly.

“You came here to tell me something, yes?” Bell asks.

“More or less,” Jesse says. “We wanted to show you something too.” They look at Axel, and he takes out the sword. It nearly glows in the firelight. Bell’s cup slips from her hands and shatters on the floor, the scalding tea spilling in her lap. She doesn’t seem to notice—she simply stares at the sword, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

“Anya,” she whispers. She takes the sword from Axel, her hands shaking slightly, and stares at it for a moment longer before tears begin to well in her eyes. “Oh, _Anya._ ”

“She was already gone when we got there,” Jesse says.

“What happened to her?"

“She was a zombie,” Axel says. “The fortress was full of them.”

Bell wipes her eyes with one hand and cradles the sword to her chest with the other. “Did you put her out of her misery?”

Axel nods. “Yeah. It was quick.”

“Thank you.” Bell’s voice is hoarse, and no matter how hard she tries, she can’t halt the flow of tears streaming down her cheeks. “And thank you for bringing this back to me.”

“Lukas got some of her journals, too,” Axel says. “He and Olivia are at the library, but we can give them to you when he gets back.”

Bell nods, still holding the sword close to her. “Yes. Yes, thank you.” There’s a long silence before she speaks again.

“You have noticed before that our village is different than others you have seen,” Bell says as she lays the sword across her lap. “That is at least partially because of Anya. We had seen people of your kind pass through, looking to trade or to mine in the mountains, but they never stayed long. Anya was the only one to make her home near us. She always told me she liked the cold.”

“The mountains get a bad rap. They’re the best,” Petra interjects. Bell nods with a small smile.

“Anya said something similar. It was not just her choice of home that made her special, though. She came to the village to trade, yes, but she also got to know us. She learned our language, and we learned hers. She taught us different ways to build, and we taught her how to make blankets that will keep out the cold no matter how windy it gets. I have never seen someone so eager to learn.”

Bell’s smile fades as she goes on. “We all knew something was wrong when she did not come for a week. I went to her fortress and saw the door smashed and heard monsters in the dark. I had been hoping she had escaped, but I suppose I knew the truth. Anya would not have simply run off if she were alive.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jesse says quietly.

“You do not have to apologize,” Bell says. “You brought back what you could of her, and for that, I will always be grateful. So will many of the others. Whatever you need, you may have.”

Jesse exchanges an uncomfortable glance with Axel and Petra. “Um. About that.” They explain their quest, and Bell listens attentively. She furrows her brow and tightens her grip on the sword when they mention the emerald.

“This is the only one you will be able to use?” Bell asks.

“Yes,” Jesse says. “It was the only flawless emerald we could find.”

“Such gems are incredibly rare and nearly impossible to come by,” Bell says, rubbing her thumb over the emerald embedded in Anya’s sword.

“We know,” Jesse agrees. “But we knew that Anya’s sword could be important to you. That’s why we wanted to ask for permission to take it.”

Bell nods and looks at the sword in her lap, brow creased and lips pressed into a thin line. Axel’s bouncing his leg again as his mind races. If she says no, finding a replacement could be near impossible. They could spend years looking and come up with nothing. They’ll be out of options. _He’ll_ be out of options.

“You may take it,” Bell says. “It is what Anya would have wanted.”

“Thank you,” Jesse says, smiling in relief. Petra’s posture relaxes, and Axel lets out a sigh.

Bell shakes her head. “There is no need to thank me. You have already given me more than I could ever repay you for. Besides, the emerald can always be replaced.”

Bell tells them she’ll have a blacksmith remove the emerald and give it to them the next morning, and they thank her once more and leave. The three of them return to the dining hall. Olivia and Lukas aren’t there yet. Jesse and Petra consider helping them with their research, but Axel doesn’t even give the idea a second thought. He scarfs down his dinner, heads upstairs, and practically throws himself into bed, face first.

He shouldn’t be this tired. Usually, he can go for days with little sleep while they’re on an adventure, but today drained him. It’s the stupid flowers. Not only are they making it hard to breathe in the first place, they’re reducing his lung capacity and making anything remotely physical that much harder. That’s what he thinks is happening, anyway. He guesses it doesn’t really matter what they’re doing to him technically; they’re still killing him. Slowly, yes, but still killing him.

Sleep slowly settles over Axel’s mind, making his eyes droop and his limbs feel heavy. He doesn’t resist it. He’s too exhausted to even get under the covers. He simply closes his eyes and lets the soft, cottony static spread from his head to the rest of his body.

Axel’s dreams are strange that night. He’s surrounded by hedges so tall that they stretch endlessly into the sky, blocking out the sun and swallowing any noises coming from outside. Lilacs bloom among the glossy leaves, their colors so bright that it hurts to look at them for too long. Axel tries to find his way out of the hedge maze, but there isn’t an end to it. He can’t even turn. All he can do is walk forward, watching as the leaves get darker and the lilacs grow more saturated until color is dripping from their petals and pooling on the ground. The leaves turn to thorns, the lilacs get larger, and the color pouring out of their blossoms becomes more viscous and turns red. The sky is dark. Axel can’t breathe. The thorns catch on his clothes. His footsteps splash as the lilacs cover the ground in blood. Everything smells like copper. The thorns grow longer. Axel can’t breathe. Vines brush his legs. Axel can’t breathe. Axel can’t breathe. Axel can’t—

When Axel wakes, he takes in a huge gulp of air. He takes in a few more for good measure, relishing in the feeling of it rushing in and out of his lungs. A few petals become dislodged from his windpipe, but they don’t make it all the way out of his mouth. They feel like paper and taste like perfume. Axel spits them into his hand and attempts to throw them into the fire, but they stick to him. When he finally manages to get them off of him, he watches them curl and blacken in the flames with a twinge of satisfaction.

The bedroom is stifling. It’s too warm, and the smell of the burning petals is making Axel’s stomach turn. He goes down to the dining hall, hoping he’ll be able to get the taste of the lilacs out of his mouth with breakfast. Buckle the blacksmith gives him a friendly wave, and Axel sits next to them.

“You are up early,” Buckle remarks.

“Yeah. What’s that saying about early to bed, early to rise?” Axel says. He grabs half a loaf of bread from the center of the table.

Buckle shrugs. Axel spreads a healthy amount of butter on the still-warm bread before tearing into it. It’s soft and fresh, and the butter is slightly sweet. It drives out the taste of the flowers, and Axel lets out a sigh of relief. He sits in silence with Buckle until they get up to leave, giving him a small smile and a nod. Axel returns it and watches them leave, a sliver of early morning light coming into the hall as they open the door.

Lukas, ever the early riser, comes down not long after Buckle’s departure, eyes and movements still heavy with sleep. He perks up ever so slightly when he takes a sip of coffee and mumbles a good morning to Axel.

“You look like you didn’t sleep,” Axel says in response.

“Gee, thanks,” Lukas yawns. “Olivia and I were up late.”

“Find anything?”

Lukas nods. “Enchanted apples are usually found in dungeons or dungeon-type structures. Desert temples, strongholds, woodland mansions, jungle temples, stuff like that.”

“Is there anything like that near here?”

“There might be a woodland mansion. We found some maps too, and there’s a forest on the other side of the mountain. It’s our best shot.”

Axel nods. “Cool. But why are enchanted apples so rare anyway? Couldn’t you just enchant a golden apple?”

“That’s what I was wondering,” Lukas says. “You actually have to enchant the sapling the apple will grow from, and then you have to water it with potions of healing and regeneration or else the enchantment won’t hold. There’s some other complicated stuff you have to do too, like using a spell to purify the soil the tree grows in, putting gold nuggets around the roots, but only after they’ve started to take hold…”

Lukas explains the long, complicated process of growing a tree that will produce enchanted apples. Axel rests his chin in his hand and spends half of the time listening and the other half looking at the way Lukas’ eyes light up when he’s talking about something he’s interested in, making gestures with his hands, going into more detail than would ever be necessary for someone not trying to become a master in the dead art of growing magical apple trees. Lukas’ coffee is cold and the others have joined them at the table by the time he finishes.

“And even if you _did_ do all of that,” he says, “the enchantment got lost to time anyway. So you’d just have a regular apple tree.”

“That sucks,” Axel says.

“I know!” Lukas exclaims. He takes a sip of his coffee and grimaces. “God, how long was I talking?”

“Twenty minutes, at least,” Olivia says, pausing her conversation with Jesse and Petra.

“Jesus,” Lukas murmurs. “Sorry you had to sit through that, Axel.”

Axel shrugs with a lazy smile, his chin still in his hand. “I didn’t mind.”

Lukas turns pink, and Axel feels his heartbeat pick up. He breaks eye contact and clears his throat, suddenly very interested in the bread crumbs on his plate. Luckily enough, Petra asks Lukas something about the forest they’re heading to, breaking the mildly awkward atmosphere. Axel pointedly ignores the raised eyebrow Olivia sends in his direction and gets up to get more bread. He thinks he feels someone’s eyes on him, but when he glances back at the table, none of his friends are looking at him.

After breakfast and a trip to the local cartographer, the New Order is ready to set out on the next leg of their journey. Bell is there to see them off, along with a few other villagers. She hands Jesse a velvet drawstring pouch containing the emerald from Anya’s sword with a small smile and a reassurance that they’ll always be welcome in her village. Their sendoff is filled with waves and smiles.

The journey to the forest is a relatively easy one. There aren’t many monsters in between the mountains and forest, which means their nights are more restful. They’re going to need it; their destination has leaves that grow so closely together that they block out most of the sunlight. It’ll be teeming with monsters. Sleeping in the trees will be the only safe option. Axel isn’t looking forward to that.

The night before they enter the forest, Lukas and Olivia explain how they’re going to find the mansion.

“We’ve divided up the forest into a grid,” Olivia says, gesturing to a map spread on the floor of the tent. “Each grid block is one square mile, and we’ll search a few blocks every day. The goal is five.”

“We won’t have to be super thorough, though,” Lukas adds. “Woodland mansions are pretty big, so we won’t have to look in every single place like if we were looking for a missing person.”

“There are some places we’ve ruled out, too,” Olivia says. She draws a red X through a section of the map with incredibly thick trees. “There won’t be a mansion in a section of the map that has too many trees. There wouldn’t be any room to build.”

“How sure are we that there’s a mansion in this forest in the first place?” Petra asks.

“We’re pretty sure,” Olivia says with a shrug. “Lukas and I talked to the librarian, and he said there was someone who went into the forest a few years ago who said something about a huge house in the middle of it. The only thing about that was that they were hysterical because they had apparently been being held prisoner there for a few months and barely managed to escape.”

“Well, it’s our best bet,” Jesse says. “Do we have any general idea about where it could be?”

“Somewhere between ten to twenty miles in from the eastern border of the forest, which is where we’re coming from,” Lukas says. “A healthy person can walk up to thirty in one day, so we’re guessing that someone on their last legs like that could do ten, maybe twenty if they were going on adrenaline.”

“Seems like a pretty safe bet,” Axel says with a nod. “It’s definitely better than what we had when we started.”

Lukas nods. “I think we have a decent chance. Better than a chance, even.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jesse says. “Let’s get some sleep.”

Everyone murmurs their agreement and begins to unroll their sleeping bags. Axel stretches his arms above his head and yawns, and his breath catches in his throat. He’s unable to breathe for a split second, and the resulting flash of panic is enough to send him into a coughing fit. The feeling of a hand on his bag vaguely registers in the back of his mind. It hasn’t been this bad since the first time petals came up from his throat. The arm he’s using to hold himself up is trembling slightly, the other hand covering his mouth to catch anything that might come out and dispose of it as soon as he can. His throat finally unclenches, and he takes a few deep, shaky breaths, only looking up from the floor of the tent once he can comfortably swallow. Everyone is staring at him.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Jesse asks. They’re the one who has their hand on Axel’s back.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Axel croaks. “I think the cold just got to me.”

“That sounded like more than the cold,” Lukas says.

“I’m fine, guys, really,” Axel says, clearing his throat. He feels the petals being crushed in his fist. There are more than usual. He’s getting worse.

“If you say so,” Jesse says warily. “Just don’t push yourself too much, okay?”

“If I can keep going with Wither sickness, Axel can keep going with the sniffles,” Petra says, and Jesse elbows her.

“She’s not wrong.” Axel crawls into his sleeping bag with another yawn, and that seems to be the end of it. Everyone settles down, though he can still feel worried glances being sent in his direction. He closes his eyes and attempts to ignore the lilac petals in his hand.

They reach the forest by midmorning the next day. It’s unsettlingly quiet. The trees swallow up any sound along with most of the sunlight, leaving only the smallest of patches on the ground. Even the sound of their footsteps seems deafening in the silence of the forest. The five of them do their best to ignore it and proceed with the search method they’d gone over the night before. Olivia and Lukas keep track of where they’ve been by drawing red Xs over blocks they’ve already searched. It’s harder to keep track of time without the sun overhead. They call it a day when the light nearly disappears completely, climb into the trees to sleep, and start again the next morning.

After several hours of searching, they find a gray banner hanging from a branch. It isn’t much to go by, but it’s something. There’s another banner down a barely-visible path, and another after that. The path widens and becomes lined with lanterns, and before long, an enormous house slowly comes into view. It’s made of dark oak and cobblestone, with large windows and three stories. The entrance consists of a set of double doors with lanterns on either side and a plain gray banner hanging above it. They huddle in the trees to one side of the path.

“Well, we found it,” Lukas says, circling a box on the map.

“What should we do now?” Axel whispers.

“I’ll scout ahead,” Petra says, unsheathing her sword. “Be right back.”

“Wait, Petra—!” Jesse hisses. They reach for her, but she’s too quick.

“She’ll be fine,” Axel reassures them with a pat on the shoulder.

Petra stalks down the path, her sword held out in front of her and her eyes darting from side to side. She goes in and out of Axel’s line of sight due to the trees, but he isn’t too worried. Petra’s more experienced at this kind of thing than all of the rest of them combined. She tries the door, her eyebrows raising slightly when it opens with no resistance. She gives one last glance to the sides before motioning the rest of them forward. The only direction she didn’t look was up.

There’s a whoosh and a high-pitched giggle as a vex swoops down from the roof. It dives toward Petra and grabs her around the waist, lifting her off the ground. She yelps and drops her sword as she claws at its hands, trying to get it off of her, but another one appears and holds her hands behind her back.

“Petra!” Jesse cries. They rush forward, but it’s too late. The vexes carry off a kicking, screaming Petra to the roof where they came. By the time Jesse bursts through the trees, the others not far behind them, Petra’s nowhere to be seen. Jesse picks up her fallen sword and darts back into the tree line. Axel sees more vexes gathering near the roof and does the same. The four of them catch their breath after they’ve put a bit of distance between themselves and the mansion.

“Fuck,” Axel grumbles.

“That sums it up,” Olivia says.

“Okay,” Jesse says. “Okay, we need to think of something. They’re going to be holding Petra somewhere inside of there. We need to get her back. And we need to look for an enchanted apple.”

“How are we going to do both?” Olivia asks.

“We’ll have to split up,” Jesse says. “Olivia, you’re with me. We’ll search one side of the mansion. Axel, Lukas, you guys search the other.”

“We should probably wait until nightfall,” Lukas says. “That way we’ll be less visible.”

“Right,” Jesse agrees, however begrudgingly. “If we try to go now, we’ll just get snatched up like Petra did. Right. Okay.”

“Hey.” Axel puts his hand on Jesse’s shoulder, and they look up at him. “We’ll find her. And until we do, Petra’s tough.” Jesse gives him a small smile and nods.

Night feels like it takes days to come, but it finally does. Jesse, Olivia, Axel, and Lukas creep up the path leading to the mansion as the last rays of sunlight disappear. Axel checks the lock while the other three keep watch. Just like before, it’s been left unlocked. Something about that makes Axel uneasy. He winces when the door creaks but doesn’t let it phase him too much. He slips inside, his friends close behind.

A staircase of cobblestone stands in front of them, the steps lined with red and white carpet. Two paths branch to the left and right. The four of them look at each other and nod, wordlessly agreeing. Axel and Lukas head down the left hallway while Jesse and Olivia take the other. Axel’s heart is pounding. It’s entirely too quiet. Lukas takes out his bow. Axel swallows down any coughs.

The rooms in the mansion are even more unsettling than the empty hallways. Obsidian structures, a giant wool statue of a chicken, an altar-like structure with nothing on it but a white tulip, a room full of empty chests, lava contained in a glass and obsidian case—and those are only the rooms Lukas and Axel have dared ventured into. They hear low, muffled voices coming from others, speaking in the same language as the villagers, but with a much more menacing tone. There’s no sign of Petra and no sign of an enchanted apple. All they find is another staircase with a mural of an illager above it, his eyes cold and piercing.

The second-floor hallway is identical to the first. The same dark walls, the same carpet covering birch floors, the same doors, the same eerie silence broken up by low voices. The first room they enter is different than others they’ve seen, though. It’s a bedroom, with an ornate four-poster bed, a few banners hanging from a decoration on the ceiling, a desk in the corner, and a large trunk at the end of the bed. Axel heads straight for the trunk and opens it, searching for an enchanted apple or anything useful. Lukas looks around the room for any hidden chests.

As they’re searching, Axel hears footsteps from down the hallway. He closes the trunk, his heart pounding. Maybe they’re just passing by. The footsteps get closer. He taps Lukas on the shoulder and motions to the door. Lukas nods. They head for the door, stopping dead in their tracks when the handle begins to turn. Axel looks around frantically and spies a wardrobe. It’s their only choice. He grabs Lukas by the wrist and pulls him into the wardrobe just as the door opens.

“Shit,” Lukas whispers, peeking out the gap in between the wardrobe doors over Axel’s shoulder. Axel covers his mouth with his hand, earning a glare, but that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is the man coming into the room with an axe. Lukas bats Axel’s hand off his mouth and looks back out into the room.

Axel recognizes their new companion as the illager from the mural above the stairs. He sets his axe down on the bed and sits at the desk, pulling a journal out of a drawer. He begins writing, grumbling to himself all the while. Axel dares to let the door open a fraction of an inch so he can get a better view of the room, straining his neck to look behind him. The desk is facing the wall opposite the door. If they’re quiet, they could sneak out. But the wardrobe doors could be creaky, as well as the floorboards, and that axe looks sharp. It also looks enchanted. Axel pulls the door closed again slowly.

“We’re just going to have to wait him out,” Axel whispers. Lukas nods, and the position they’re in finally registers in Axel’s mind.

Axel’s essentially pinning Lukas against the back of the wardrobe. He’s just a little bit too tall for it, so he has to have one knee bent at an awkward angle in order to fit. There’s barely any room left for Lukas to squeeze into. He and Axel are practically pressed together, and with the way Axel has himself crammed in, they’re at eye level with each other. Axel can feel Lukas’ heartbeat pounding in his chest. His lungs are constricting. Lukas’ eyes are deep blue, even in the dark. He has a dusting of faint freckles across his nose and cheekbones, and his eyelashes are as light as his hair. They stare at each other, both of their hearts racing for different reasons, something unreadable in Lukas’ eyes.

A faint banging noise comes from the hallway, and the illager snarls something under his breath. Lukas looks over Axel’s shoulder, his breath ghosting across his ear. Axel swallows. The desk chair scrapes across the floor, and the illager’s heavy footsteps follow.

“Can you make out anything he’s saying?” Axel asks.

“Something about a prisoner,” Lukas whispers in his ear. “It could be Petra. We should follow him.”

Axel nods. The door opens, Lukas whispers for him to go, and they climb out of the wardrobe as quietly as they can. They don’t bother closing the door behind them. Axel tries to will his heart to stop pounding and his lungs to stop threatening to burst. He and Lukas could take the illager if they were caught no problem, but there’s no telling how many there are in the mansion. A sounded alarm could spell disaster.

They follow the illager through the mansion, keeping a safe distance between them, down to the first floor and to the right. He pauses at a bookshelf, pulls out a book, and the wall opens up in front of him. It closes again as he steps through the newly revealed doorway. Lukas tries a few different books before pulling out the right one, a thick tome with a black and purple cover and a title written in silver ink. Lukas and Axel hurry through the gap in the wall before it closes behind them.

Redstone torches flicker in the darkness, providing just enough light to see by. Axel can hear footsteps echoing from below them. He can also hear someone shouting a plethora of curse words mixed in with threats and wordless, frustrated shouting. _Petra._ Lukas can hear it too. He leads the way down the stairs in front of them, his bow at the ready and his jaw set. It gets colder the further down they go, and the walls are made of stone rather than wood. A metallic screech rings through the air, and Petra’s shouting gets louder. Lukas and Axel hurry down the stairs. There’s a short hallway with a single door at the end of it. The door is wide open, giving them a full view of the illager standing in front of Petra’s cell, hands behind his back, while she screams at him.

“Enough,” the illager snarls, and with a wave of his hand, Petra’s mouth snaps shut. “I have endured your foolishness for long enough.”

Axel grasps one of the torch holders on the wall and begins to pull.

“Now tell me…”

The illager crooks his finger towards himself in a beckoning gesture, and Petra presses herself against the cell door, clinging to the bars. Her eyes are hazy and glossed over. One of the rivets holding the torch holder to the wall comes loose.

“Exactly how many of you are there?”

Petra opens her mouth just as Axel yanks the holder from the wall. The illager turns, scowling, but before he can get a word in, Axel brings the torch holder down on the top of his head. He falls to the ground in a heap, and the spell on Petra is broken. She shakes her head and blinks her vision back into focus, and when she sees Axel and Lukas her eyes light up.

“Are you okay?” Axel asks as Lukas steps gingerly over the illager lying unconscious on the floor.

“Yeah, just great,” Petra says. She looks down and raises her eyebrows. “Oh, holy shit, what happened to him?”

“Knocked him out,” Axel says. He glances around at the other cobblestone and iron bar cells. “Is there anyone else in here?”

“Just me,” Petra says with a shake of her head. “I think he has the keys. He’s the only one I’ve seen down here.”

It only takes Lukas a moment to find the keys on the illager’s belt and unlock Petra’s cell. They shove the illager in it for good measure and lock it behind him. Lukas tucks the keys in his pocket, and they dash up the stairs. The air in the mansion has changed. Axel can hear people shouting and rushing around, their stomping footsteps echoing through the basement. They’ve been discovered.

“Where are Jesse and Olivia?” Petra asks. She pushes a button at the top of the basement stairs, and the gap in the wall created by the bookshelf opens up in front of them.

“Dunno,” Axel says. “We split up to find you.”

“Let’s go to the entrance,” Lukas suggests. “We’ll meet up with them no matter what there.”

Petra wrenches a torch from its holder in place of her sword, and they head for the entrance. There’s no attempt at stealth now; they’re running through the halls, attracting the attention of many an illager. Lukas periodically sends arrows flying behind them, deterring anyone from chasing them down. It seems to be working. The three of them reach the main entrance hall, Petra nearly crashing into Jesse as they clash swords with a vex.

“Petra!” Jesse shouts, their eyes shining with relief.

“Hey,” Petra says. She grabs her sword from where Jesse has it strapped to their back. “Need some help?”

She doesn’t wait for an answer. As a vex charges at her, she sinks her sword into its chest. It evaporates with a small popping noise. Axel and Lukas join the fight, Lukas with his bow and Axel with his fists. Olivia has constructed a cannon that sends small charges of gunpowder flying into the ghostly figures swarming around them. Jesse and Petra are fighting back to back, bringing enemies down with single, well-placed swipes of their swords. Axel catches a glimpse of the evoker summoning the vexes. She’s standing in a shadowy corner, black energy surrounding her hands and sweat beading on her forehead as she scowls at the heroes taking her minions down like they’re nothing. She bares her teeth in a growl as an arrow pierces a vex through the heart and clenches her fists. The energy surrounding them grows more opaque.

A vex with glowing, blood-red eyes materializes behind her. It’s much taller than the others. It’s taller than Axel. It lets out an ear-piercing shriek and flies toward him, a sword in each hand. Axel dodges to the side, hissing as one of the swords grazes his side. The vex crashes into the wall and turns, hissing. Just as it prepares to charge again, a charge of gunpowder hits it in the side. The resulting explosion makes it shriek and glare in Olivia’s direction. Jesse tosses Axel a nearly broken iron sword, collected from a fallen vex, and charges with Petra by their side. A barrage of arrows from Lukas embeds itself in the vex’s shoulder. Axel grins and joins Jesse and Petra in the melee, darting around to its back. The vex shrieks, making all of them wince, but they don’t cease their attack. It swings wildly, but it’s no use. It explodes into a shower of red and gray sparks. Jesse lets out a cheer, but it dies in their throat.

They’re surrounded.

Illagers circle them on all sides, wielding axes and crossbows and magic, vexes floating above them and giggling. The New Order clusters together, weapons raised. Jesse grabs Petra’s hand and squeezes, lacing their fingers together. Olivia is glaring defiantly, but Axel can see the slight tremble to her hands. Lukas’ eyes are darting all around the circle slowly closing in around them, calculating. Axel doesn’t know what to do.

“Jesse,” Lukas whispers. “Do you still have that flint and steel?”

“Yeah,” Jesse whispers back. “Why?”

“Just trust me.”

Jesse nods and hands him the flint and steel. Lukas looks around the circle one more time before knitting his brows together and nodding firmly.

“Stand back.”

He lights the tip of one of his arrows on fire and knocks it, pointing it at a banner hanging from the ceiling. The illagers around them tense. Lukas says something in Villager, his voice as sharp and cold as the look in his eyes as he glares around the room. The air crackles with tension. Lukas pulls the string of his bow back a fraction of an inch, and a few gasps break the silence. Even without understanding the language, Lukas’ threat is clear. After a bit of mumbling among the illagers, the circle parts by the door. Lukas only extinguishes his arrow when they’re out. As soon as he crosses the threshold, the evoker who had originally held them up at the entrance to the mansion raises her hands, grinning wickedly. Lukas fires his still-hot arrow into her palm and darts into the night, her enraged shout echoing behind them.

“That was awesome!” Petra laughs as they run through the trees.

“Hell yeah it was!” Jesse agrees. Lukas exchanges a high-five with them, his grin wide and eyes shining.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Axel says, hoping the pink color of his face isn’t visible in the dark.

Lukas laughs, and Axel’s heart jumps. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.”

It doesn’t occur to Axel that they didn’t find an enchanted apple until after he and the rest of the New Order are tucked away in the trees for the night. When he mentions this, Jesse pulls a golden, glowing apple from their bag. They and Olivia had found it in a chest in the mansion. Unfortunately, that chest had been trapped. The resulting alarm was what had caused them to have trouble leaving the mansion.

No matter the difficulty they’d faced getting the second ingredient, they’ve found it. There’s only one place left for them to go now: the Nether. They’ll get there using the portal in Beacontown. It’s located in the depths of the Order hall, far away from anyone who may not be able to go into the Nether and come out alive again. Axel vaguely wonders why they didn’t go to the Nether first, but he shrugs it off. The order they obtain the ingredients for the curative potion doesn’t matter much to him. He just wants to get them. Just in case.

As their journey back to Beacontown goes on, Axel gets worse. He’s winded after a few mere hours of walking, coughing up a storm, and feels a sharp pain in his chest from time to time that has him clutching his shirt over his sternum so hard his hands shake, silently hoping that none of his friends notice what’s really going on. Maybe he’ll be able to get through this quest without anyone discovering his illness.

He’s not so lucky.

Axel wakes in the middle of the night, unable to breathe clearly and panicking. He crawls out of the tent, wheezing and gasping as quietly as he can, then going to a nearby creek to splash water on his face and let it all out. It’s _agonizing._ The first cough that finally escapes his mouth wracks his whole body, tearing up his throat and just barely dislodging the blockage preventing him from getting sufficient oxygen. He’s learned what petals feel like, but this feels different. He doesn’t know what it is. He doesn’t care. He just wants it _out._ He hacks until finally, _finally,_ the blockage escapes. Axel doesn’t stop to examine it. He collapses to all fours from where he’d been on his knees and vomits. No bile comes out, however; it’s all lilac petals. They leave an unpleasant perfume taste in his mouth.

“Axel?”

_Fuck._

Axel doesn’t get to respond. He takes in a few more ragged gasps of air before vomiting again, the petals scattering on the ground as if he’s an overly eager flower girl at a wedding. His throat burns. His eyes are watering. He looks up, wiping the spit from his chin with one hand, to see Lukas kneeling next to the creek, filling his canteen with water. He shoves it under Axel’s nose, and Axel nods and takes a deep drink. The cold, refreshing water soothes his aching throat and brings back his ability to speak.

“Thanks,” he croaks, his voice little more than a whisper. “Sorry you had to see that.” He begins to sweep the petals into the water, but Lukas grabs his wrist to stop him.

“Axel, what the hell is happening?” Lukas’ voice is shaking slightly, and his eyebrows are knitted together so tightly that Axel thinks they might stick that way. Axel sighs deeply. Of all the people to find out about this, Lukas was the last one he wanted.

“I’m sick,” Axel says.

“Yeah, no shit,” Lukas retorts. He looks angry. That makes _Axel_ angry, but he’s too tired to show it. Everything hurts. “When were you going to tell us about this?”

“I wasn’t,” Axel admits. “I was trying to hide it so you guys wouldn’t worry.”

“Well, that didn’t work,” Lukas grumbles. He looks down at the pile of petals and—full blossoms? That can’t be good. “Why flower petals? Are you—you aren’t eating these, are you?”

“Of course not,” Axel snaps. “I’ve got hanahaki disease.”

“Hanahaki?”

“Yeah. It makes flowers grow in your lungs. Hence the coughing up petals.” He can’t tell Lukas the cause of it. Admitting that might make him die faster.

“Jesus,” Lukas says under his breath. “You’re the reason we’re out here, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Axel says with a nod. His throat itches with a cough, but his diaphragm is too worn out to manage one. “I told Ivor about it, since it seemed like some magic bullshit he’d know about.”

“You shouldn’t have come,” Lukas says.

“Like hell I would have stayed home while you guys risked your necks to save me from my problem,” Axel says. He’d cross his arms, but Lukas still has an iron grip on his wrist.

“You’ve been getting worse!” Lukas exclaims. “I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Everyone’s worried about you, Axel. You should tell them what’s going on.”

“What? No!”

“If you don’t, _I_ will!”

“Lukas, come on! Don’t! Please.”

Lukas narrows his eyes and tightens his grip on Axel’s wrist. “Why not?”

“It’ll just make them worry more if they know what’s going on,” Axel says. “We only have one more ingredient left, and then Ivor’ll make the potion and I’ll be fine.” As he says this, his stomach turns at the thought of what will happen after he’s cured. He feels like he could vomit.

Lukas stares at him as he weighs the options, his eyes flitting across Axel’s face. Axel shifts uncomfortably. He feels like Lukas is looking directly into him, through the layers of sarcasm and toughness, seeing him for what he is: afraid. He’s afraid to die. He’s afraid to be cured. He’s afraid of what Lukas would say if he ever found out what really causes hanahaki disease. After an eternity, Lukas sighs deeply and loosens his vice grip on Axel, but doesn’t let go.

“Fine,” he says. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

“Thanks,” Axel breathes in relief. “I’ll be fine, really. This’ll be over before you know it.”

 _One way or another,_ he adds in his mind.

“But you’d better take it easy, okay?” Lukas says.

“I will,” Axel reassures.

Lukas finally releases his wrist, and they brush the petals from the grass and into the water. Axel watches them float down the meandering creek. It’s beautiful, despite the circumstances. He wonders if Lukas has similar thoughts. The two of them make their way back to the tents. They’d slept in the same one in the mountains for warmth, but now they each have their own (though Jesse and Petra still share one). Axel gives Lukas a small wave as a goodnight, not wanting to disturb any more people that night than he already has. Lukas surprises him by giving him a quick, tight hug, a smile, and a wave similar to Axel’s before crawling into his own tent. Axel’s lungs feel like they’re going to burst into flames.

* * *

They return to Beacontown a few days after Lukas finds out about Axel’s condition. Ever since that night, Axel’s been feeling worse. The sharp pain in his chest has become a daily occurrence. More full blossoms come up from his lungs, and there are more petals than ever before. Swallowing hurts. Breathing too deeply hurts. Coughing is agony. He can practically hear the clock ticking as his time runs short. One more ingredient. Just one more. That’s what he keeps telling himself. Yet every time he thinks about the curative potion, his stomach churns and his heart clenches. He pushes these feelings down as best he can. He needs to drink it. He doesn’t want to die.

As soon as they set foot in town, Ivor descends upon them. Jesse hands over the emerald and the enchanted apple, and Ivor looks them over. Once he’s satisfied, he scurries off to his brewery and demands to be left alone, saying something about needing to concentrate. Axel doesn’t need to be told twice. He goes to his room and collapses into his bed, heaving a massive, relieved sigh. There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed after days on the road.

The relief washing over Axel coalesces, gathers in the pit of his stomach, and cools as it slowly turns to dread. He loves his home and his own familiar bed with the threadbare but soft blanket that he’s had as long as he can remember. Will he still love it after he’s cured, or will he feel indifferent towards it? What will life be like without any love? How much will he still care about fireworks? About hot chocolate on a cold day? About Beacontown? About his _friends?_ The more he thinks about it, the more the dread grows and gnaws at the inside of his gut. Axel groans and presses the heels of his palms against his eyes. He hates this. He _hates_ this. He hates his ancestors. He hates lilacs. He hates himself for falling for someone out of reach.

There’s a knock on his door. Axel doesn’t answer. There’s a second knock, and he ignores it again. He only drags himself out of bed with a frustrated growl when the knocking grows more insistent and becomes impossible to ignore. He opens the door, scowling, and finds Ivor standing there, his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently.

“Come with me.”

He doesn’t give Axel time to ask why. He starts down the hall briskly, leaving Axel jogging to catch up. They go to Ivor’s brewery. It’s a complete mess. There are bottles filled with failed potions cluttering the counters, papers litter Ivor’s desk, and the books are in disarray. The brewing stand is the only clean thing in the room. There are two potions sitting on it: a deep green glowing one with flecks of gold swirling in it, and a purplish-red one with bubbles rising from the surface. Ivor grabs the second one, giving it a shake, and the number of bubbles increases dramatically. They flow out of the mouth of the bottle and pop when they reach the ceiling. It smells like lilacs. Axel feels like he’s going to vomit.

“This is what I’ve been developing since you left,” Ivor says, swirling the potion in the bottle. “It’s my own cure for hanahaki disease. I don’t know if it will work.”

“What’ll happen if it doesn’t?” Axel asks warily.

“Nothing,” Ivor says. “But if it does, you’ll be cured without the side effects of the other potion.”

“You’re sure?” Axel takes the bottle from Ivor’s outstretched hand, trying not to choke on the scent.

“I’m positive.”

Axel swallows. One of the bubbles from Ivor’s attempt at a cure pops in his face. He steels himself and downs it in one go, forcing himself to swallow despite the perfume-like taste. He shudders when the bottle is empty, and Ivor places his hand on his shoulder.

“When will we know if it worked?” Axel asks.

“The official cure is more or less instantaneous,” Ivor says. “This one should be as well.”

Axel nods and waits to see if he feels any different. The constant burning in his throat is still there. He still can’t breathe deeply. He coughs into his hand, feeling a blossom come up as he does so. Its petals are dotted with a few drops of blood. Ivor’s eyes widen.

“Blossoms?” he says incredulously. “It didn’t cure you, it’s made it worse!”

“This has been happening for a couple days, actually,” Axel says.

 _“What?”_ Ivor gasps. He goes to his desk and shoves a stack of papers to the floor before opening the book sitting on the desk, flipping through it frantically. Axel stares at his hunched form uneasily. Just as he’s about to say something, Ivor straightens and turns to look at him.

“It’s one of your friends.”

“Wh-what?”

“Jesse, Lukas, Olivia, or Petra. It’s one of them.” Ivor picks up the book, pointing to a sentence that has been circled. “’Spending prolonged periods of time with the person who is the cause of the disease will accelerate its natural process.’ That’s why blossoms are already emerging. You’ve been around them nearly constantly for the past couple of weeks.” He slams the book back on the desk, hackles raised and jaw set. “I _knew_ I shouldn’t have allowed you to go!”

“Even if you told me I couldn’t, I still would have gone,” Axel says.

“Well, you can’t go to the Nether,” Ivor says. “It’s too risky.”

“There’s no _way_ I’m letting them go there without me!” Axel snaps. “It’s gonna be the most dangerous part of this whole thing! We’ll need everyone on board to make sure we get out okay!”

“Axel, be _reasonable—_ ”

“No! I’m going to the Nether. I don’t care.”

He storms out of Ivor’s brewery, slamming the door behind him and rattling the bottles on the shelves. His hands are shaking. He can’t leave his friends one person short in the most dangerous place in the world. Or not in the world. The Nether is weird. His throat is raw from his brief shouting match, but he hardly notices. He just wants this to be over. He goes back to his room and locks the door behind him.

The next morning, Axel and the others head down to the portal. He hasn’t brought much. They’re not planning to stay in the Nether for more than a day if they can help it. Axel isn’t sure if he’ll last longer than that. Ivor’s words echo in his mind, but he tunes them out by listening to Olivia talk about the special compass she’s constructed for this mission.

“It’ll only work in the Nether,” Olivia says, tapping on the glass covering of the compass as the needle spins uselessly. “I made it using quartz instead of iron. The red half of the needle will point right to the center of the Nether.”

“Why’d you make it out of quartz?” Axel asks.

“The Nether has different magnetic properties than the rest of the world,” Olivia explains. “I figured if I used a material that comes from there, it would make a working compass.”

“Cool,” Axel says.

“Thanks!” Olivia grins, and Axel smiles in return.

The five of them reach the portal and step through it without hesitation. The Nether is the same as it always is; pillars of lava, scorching heat, ghast calls echoing through the air. Olivia’s compass stops spinning as soon as they pass through, and they follow the needle. Axel wishes he thought to bring water. The heat is already making his throat dry and itchier than usual. He tries to suppress his coughs, but they’re just too violent to be held down for long. He finally gives in, and when he does, he can’t stop the explosion of lilac petals that fly out of his mouth.

“Axel?” Jesse says, their brows furrowed in worry.

“Shit,” Axel spits, panting for air. Every pair of eyes is on him now. “You weren’t supposed to see—” Another cough racks his body, and a cluster of blossoms falls to the ground. No petals. Just blossoms. One of them is on a stem.

“Holy shit, what’s happening?” Jesse’s voice is shaking.

“I’m fine,” Axel rasps. “This has been happening since before we went to the mountains.”

“What?!”

“You’re _not_ fine,” Olivia says.

“ _Yes,_ I _am,”_ Axel snaps. “We just need to get the blue nether wart and then Ivor can—”

“Oh my god, you’re who he’s making the potion for,” Jesse says.

“Yeah, I am. But I’m not helpless. I can do this.”

“Axel—” Olivia begins, but Petra cuts her off.

“If he says he’s fine, he’s fine. It’s a little late for us to go back now anyway,” she says. Jesse crosses their arms, looking between Petra, Axel, and Lukas, who’s stayed silent. They sigh in defeat and drop their arms back to their sides.

“Fine.”

They start moving again, and Axel looks at Petra with a hint of a smile on his face. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” she says. “I know what it feels like to have people fussing all over you because you’re sick.” She pauses, not looking him in the eye. “But try to take it easy, okay? I don’t want to have to drag your stupid body all the way back home.”

Axel tries to laugh, but all he can manage is a weak cough. He doesn’t miss the worried glance Lukas sends in his direction. He wishes he could. That brief moment of eye contact is all it takes for a stabbing pain to slice through his chest. It doesn’t go away this time. He swallows thickly and trudges onward, willing himself to keep going. He can’t stop now. They’re close. He can feel it.

The usual number of monsters try to stop them on the way to the center. A few groups of wither skeletons, a ghast or two, a zombie pig man staring them down as they pass. They’re well prepared, though. Axel’s been a hero long enough that the Nether doesn’t scare him nearly as much as it used to. It’s definitely not his favorite place to be, especially on his own, but it’s not a problem with the five of them. He’s not contributing as much as he normally does, however. He tells himself it’s because Lukas, Jesse, and Petra have it covered with their bow and swords, but he knows why deep down.

A couple hours into their trek, Lukas slows his pace to walk next to Axel. He has his bow at the ready, an arrow already nocked, and his eyes are scanning the perimeter as he keeps an eye out for monsters he can either take down or send running with a few shots. He pauses his surveillance to look up at Axel and give him a small smile, which Axel returns. The lingering pain in his chest flares up, and he digs his nails into his palms and clenches his teeth until the worst of it passes.

“I thought about telling Jesse last night,” Lukas says. It takes Axel a minute to know what he’s talking about.

“Why didn’t you?” he asks.

Lukas shrugs. “You asked me not to. Plus I figured if it got that bad you wouldn’t end up going to the Nether.”

“You know me better than that,” Axel says. In front of them, Petra lets out a battle cry as a wither skeleton charges at her with a sword. Lukas sends an arrow into its eye socket, and it collapses into a pile of bones.

“Yeah, I do,” Lukas agrees. “I know that you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“Guilty as charged,” Axel says with a shrug. “But I’ll be fine, really.”

“I know.” Lukas nocks another arrow from the quiver on his back. “Because if you’re not, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Like you could,” Axel teases.

“I _can_ and I _will._ ”

Axel rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning. This is good. This feels normal. Bantering with Lukas is as easy as breathing. (Though that might not be the best analogy at the moment.) Axel can’t dwell on it, though. If he does, he thinks his lungs might collapse.

The terrain gets sparser the closer they get to the center. There’s more lava, less quartz, more glowstone hanging from the ceiling far above them, and fewer monsters. It becomes more and more imminent what lies at the center: there’s a huge building jutting out from the lava. It stands out even more than it normally would due to the flatter ground. The compass is pointing directly to the building. As they get closer, they can see that it’s a nether fortress. The biggest nether fortress that Axel has ever seen. It’s a single tower that reaches upwards, nearly touching the ceiling, full to the brim with monsters. It’s in the middle of a lava lake, with a long bridge leading to the entrance.

“It’s never straightforward, is it?” Jesse sighs, looking up at it. “It couldn’t just be a huge patch of soul sand with blue nether wart growing in it. It has to be _some_ sort of dungeon.”

“That’s how it works,” Petra says, patting Jesse on the shoulder.

“Let’s just grab what we need and get out. It looks pretty nasty in there.” They turn to look at Axel.

“I’m not staying behind,” Axel says stubbornly.

“Are you sure?”

“With all those monsters in there? No way.”

“Alright.” It’s clear Jesse doesn’t like the idea of him going in, but they know they’ll lose the argument. Axel’s too stubborn to give in. “Everybody lay low and stick together. We’re probably going to get noticed no matter what we do, but we shouldn’t fight more than we need to.”

The reason why they’re being a little more cautious than usual is unspoken, but Axel knows exactly what it is. He can’t help but feel a little frustrated. This is why he hadn’t told anyone initially. The others are going to focus more on how he’s doing than keeping themselves safe, and someone’s going to end up hurt because of it. He feels like a burden.

Wallowing won’t help. He sticks behind Petra as they approach the tower, keeping his eyes on one of the skeletons guarding the entrance to the bridge. It notices them as soon as they get close. Before it can fire a shot at them, Axel charges up to it and lands a solid punch to its sternum, sending it stumbling backwards. It tumbles over the edge and into the lava. Petra slashes her sword twice across the ribs of the other skeleton in quick succession, and its bones rattle before they collapse into a useless heap. Axel gives Petra a thumbs up, and she grins in response. They cross the bridge without any trouble.

The trouble comes when they enter the tower. A fireball whizzes above Axel’s head and collides with the wall. It explodes into flames and sends sparks raining down on the five of them. Axel dodges out of the way, but a few sparks still put small burn marks in the sleeve of his jacket. The blaze hovering above them is already forming another fireball in the center of its spinning rods. There’s a hiss and a crackle, and then it’s attacking again, scattering the five of them as they dart out of the way. Lukas and Olivia are the only ones who can hit the blaze while it’s airborne. All Jesse, Petra, and Axel can do is dodge out of the way of its attacks. It finally goes down after a few exhausting minutes, crashing to the ground and reducing its rods to dust.

“I hate blazes,” Jesse grumbles, kicking a broken blaze rod aside.

“Agreed,” Lukas says as he gathers up his salvageable arrows. A few of them have already been burnt to a crisp.

With the blaze gone, they’re able to get a look around. The entrance of the tower is a single large room. Tattered, charred remains of tapestries hang on the walls, barely more than scraps of fabric. There’s a spiral staircase that goes both up and down in the middle of the room. Olivia walks along the perimeter of the room, feeling for traps or hidden doors. She doesn’t find any. They’re left with a choice: up or down.

“I say we go up first. Then if we don’t find anything we can go downstairs,” Petra suggests. “And if we need to leave fast, it’ll be easier to do that going down the stairs instead of up them.”

“Sounds good,” Jesse says with a nod. They look at Axel with a concern (and, irritatingly, trace amounts of pity). “Are you going to be able to do the stairs okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” It takes everything in Axel not to snap at them.

“Then let’s go.”

The stairs are so narrow that they have no choice but to go up them single file. There are a surprising number of them, and they’re incredibly steep. Despite what he told Jesse, Axel finds himself winded after the first story. The pain in his chest is steadily growing. He feels like something is wrapping around his lungs and squeezing. Based on the illustrations of hanahaki disease he’s seen, that may actually be what’s happening.

Axel doesn’t allow himself to think about it too much. He goes through the motions of their usual method of dungeon combing: kill monsters, check for traps, look for anything hidden, search any chests they find. Rinse and repeat. All the while, blossoms are making their way out of Axel’s windpipe. More of them are on stems. Most of them have blood on their petals. All of them look shriveled. Axel imagines they’re running out of room to grow. He briefly wonders what will happen if he dies. Will the lilacs die with him? Will they keep growing, sucking as much of the remaining life out of his body as they can? He imagines the flowers tearing his body apart, growing out of his eyes and mouth and his torn-open chest, and the thought nearly makes him vomit.

Six floors later, they’re no closer to finding the elusive blue nether wart. They take a break after clearing out the monsters. There’s no furniture, but no one seems to care. They all simply sit against one of the walls, keeping an eye out for monsters coming from above or below. Axel looks over his exhausted friends. Olivia has a gash in her arm from a sword-wielding zombie. It’s bandaged, but a small trickle of blood is dripping out the bottom of the wound’s dressing. Jesse is favoring one leg, having twisted their ankle on the stairs. Part of Petra’s vest is badly singed. Lukas is nearly out of arrows but is in alright shape otherwise. Everyone is too exhausted to even speak as they catch their breath.

Axel makes a decision.

“We’re not getting anywhere with this,” Axel says.

“Yeah, thanks for reminding us,” Lukas grumbles. “What’s your point?”

“Let’s just go home.”

 _“Fuck_ no,” Petra says, crossing her arms. “It’s got to be in here somewhere.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?”

“But what if it’s not? What if—”

“Wait, hold on.” Olivia cuts him off, her gaze severe. “You’re not considering not taking the cure, are you?”

Axel says nothing.

“Axel, you _have_ to!” Jesse nearly shouts. “If you don’t, you—you’ll—”

“You’re getting cured,” Lukas says. “We’re not going to give up, whether you like it or not.”

Axel sighs. He knows he’s beaten. It was worth a try. Their break ends, and they continue up the tower with similar results. Lava, fire, monsters, traps, loot. Lava, fire, monsters, traps, loot. Lava, fire, monsters—

A nether wart farm.

The farm takes up the entirety of the floor. There’s row after row of nether wart poking up out of the soul sand, the vibrant red a stark contrast to the darkness of the sand. They split off from each other to search the farm for anything with even a single speck of blue in it. Axel’s heart is racing as he walks up and down the rows. Part of him hopes they find nothing. The part of him that still has self-preservation is what makes his eyes scan the stalks of nether wart frantically.

“I found it!”

Jesse has their hands over their head, a handful of blue nether wart in each of their fists as they grin triumphantly. Axel can see the cluster of deep, lapis lazuli blue stalks at their feet. He can’t help but sigh in relief. They’ve found what they came for, so they can finally go home. Despite his relief, there’s a lead weight sitting in his stomach.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jesse says, tucking the nether wart away into their bag. They start down the stairs, and everyone else follows.

“Shouldn’t you look a little happier?” Lukas asks, talking to Axel over his shoulder as their group makes their way back to the ground floor.

“Uh, yeah,” Axel says. He forces a smile. “Of course I’m happy! It’s just, uh, Ivor told me the potion might have some pretty weird side effects. So I guess I’m just worried about that. And, y’know, if it’ll even work.”

“I’m sure it will,” Lukas reassures. “Ivor knows what he’s doing. And the side effects have to better than the alternative, right?”

“Right,” Axel says, though he’s not so sure. Lukas gives him a smile, and he does his best attempt to return it.

Their return to the ground floor is made into a grand occasion courtesy of a cluster of skeletons. They start carving their way through them, given new strength by the completion of their mission. Axel grabs a skeleton by the head and slams it into the wall, smirking in satisfaction at the sound of cracking bones. It goes limp and falls apart, and Axel hurls the skull at another one of the monsters. It collides with one on the other end of the room, dazing it and sending it stumbling into another skeleton. Axel’s laughing at the domino effect that ensues when his lungs seize.

A choking sound escapes him as the laugh turns into a ragged cough. No, no, not now, _not now._ The pain in his sternum explodes. His vision goes white as he collapses to his knees, ears ringing and body shaking violently. Someone calls his name. He can’t breathe. His throat is being torn to shreds. He clutches his stomach and retches, and his mouth tastes like copper. When his eyes come back into focus, he sees a fully stemmed lilac, leaves and all, laying in a splatter of blood. He retches again. More blood. More flowers. Vines. Thorns. Lukas’ hands on his face. Lukas looking at him with fear in his eyes as his mouth forms his name.

The world feels strange. Everything is fuzzy. The floor comes up to meet him as Axel tips forward, but Lukas catches him. Axel can feel him straining as he lays him on his side, away from the pool of his own blood. He’s screaming. Axel’s so tired. He reaches for one of the hands Lukas is using to hold his arm in a vice grip and puts his own over it. Lukas laces their fingers together so tightly that both of their knuckles are turning white. A small smile graces Axel’s lips as his heart warms slightly. His smile fades when he sees the tears running down Lukas’ face.

“Lukas.” His voice is so hoarse he hardly recognizes it.

 _Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him,_ the voice in Axel’s head chants.

“Axel, please, don’t, _please,_ I—”

_Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him—_

“If I don’t die right now, don’t let Ivor give me the potion.”

_Tell him, tell him, TELL HIM, TELL HIM—_

_“What?!_ Of course I’m going to let him—”

“Please.”

Lukas uses one hand to wipe his tears, a streak of blood following in its wake. He stares at Axel for a moment before nodding. Axel smiles. The last thing he hears before the blackness swallows him is Lukas’ voice cracking as he pleas for him to stay awake.

* * *

Axel opens his eyes.

He’s not in the Nether. He’s not in his room either. He’s in an unfamiliar but comfortable bed. The room isn’t familiar either. The walls are painted a pleasant light blue, there’s a window above the bed letting in plenty of sunlight, and the desk tucked next to two tall bookshelves has a small potted cactus on it with his jacket hanging on the back of the chair. The only unusual thing about the room that he notices is the collection of empty potion bottles on the nightstand. He shrugs it off, too tired to think into it, yawns, and settles back down into the pillow, letting his eyes slide closed. He snaps them open a moment later.

He yawned. He yawned without it hurting. Axel sits up and takes a few deep breaths. There’s no resistance. There’s a dull soreness in his chest and abdomen, but it isn’t the sharp pain he’s become accustomed to. His lungs are completely clear. No flowers. No thorns. No blood. Just air, rushing in and out as he takes breath after breath until his head begins to swim. It’s gone.

Axel clenches his fists, his heart pounding. Ivor gave him the potion. He must have. Despite Axel’s relief at not being dead, he’s angry. Ivor did this against his wishes. When he comes in here (wherever _here_ is), it’s not going to be pretty. Axel won’t hurt him, but he’s going to give him a piece of his mind.

As if summoned by Axel’s thoughts, Ivor enters the room with a bucket in one hand and a towel draped over his shoulder. He closes the door behind him quietly. When he notices Axel is sitting up in bed and glaring at him, he initially looks surprised, but his posture relaxes as relief washes over him.

“Good, you’re awake.”

“Awake?” Axel repeats, one side of his brow raised. “How long was I asleep?”

Ivor places the bucket on the nightstand and perches on the edge of the bed. “About three days.”

“Really?”

Ivor nods and takes the towel off his shoulder, dunking it into the bucket and wringing it out. He pushes on Axel’s shoulder, forcing him to lay back down, and puts the damp towel on his forehead. It’s pleasantly cool. Axel still grumbles about it.

“You gave me the potion, didn’t you?” he says, glaring as Ivor walks to the other side of the bed.

“I didn’t need to,” Ivor replies.

“Wait, what?”

“When the others brought you to me, we all feared the worst. You were hardly breathing, completely unconscious, and you had a terrible fever. But there were still flowers emerging.”

“Thorns and blood too.”

“Yes. But the flowers you were coughing up were wilting.” Ivor picks up another bucket sitting by the bed. It’s full of dead lilac blossoms, leaves, vines, thorns, and blood. Axel grimaces.

“Can you just tell me what that means? I’m still waking up here,” he says. “And where am I anyway?”

“You’re in my home. This was the easiest place for me to keep an eye on you while you recovered.” Ivor sits back down on the edge of the bed. “And as for what the wilting flowers mean…when hanahaki is cured naturally, the flowers begin to wilt. They don’t magically disappear, however. The infected person still has to expel them, along with anything else that’s grown in the process. The recovery stage can be worse than the onset of the disease, depending on how far along it was when the person was cured. It can cause things like fever and unconsciousness, and the throat gets damaged in the process, but I would argue that it’s much better than dying.”

“No kidding,” Axel agrees. “So I’m cured? I’m not gonna die?”

“You’re cured,” Ivor says with a nod and a small smile. “Naturally cured, I might add.”

“Wait,” Axel says slowly. “Didn’t you say the natural cure was the person causing it loving you back?”

“That it is,” Ivor says. His smile is growing, and Axel feels heat rushing to his face.

“Okay,” he says. “Okay. Holy shit. Okay. I’ve gotta go.” He places the towel on the nightstand and starts to sit back up, but Ivor’s glare stops him in his tracks.

“Absolutely not,” he snaps. “You’re still recovering. Stay here.”

“But I—”

“No,” Ivor says curtly. “You are not to leave this room or this bed until I deem you well enough to do so. However, I will allow you to have visitors. Jesse and the others have been pestering me nonstop about how you’ve been doing anyhow.”

He leaves without another word, and Axel slumps back into the pillows with his arms crossed, resigned to his fate. His mind and heart are going at a mile a minute. Lukas loves him back. Lukas loves him back. _Lukas loves him back._ Knowing that should make him feel on top of the world, which it does to some extent, but he finds that he’s also incredibly anxious. What does he do now? Does he tell Lukas how he feels? Does he wait for Lukas to say something? Maybe Ivor told the others the true nature of hanahaki. Maybe Lukas already knows. Does _Ivor_ know? Axel never told him who it was, but he’s smart enough that he could figure it out on his own. Would Ivor say anything if he did? Axel shakes his head. Overthinking isn’t doing him any good. He needs to just calm down and—

The door bursts open and Jesse and Olivia practically body slam him. Axel wheezes as the breath is knocked out of him. Petra and Lukas are there too, along with Ivor, who’s threatening to kick them out if they don’t give Axel space. Once he can breathe again, he wraps his arms around Jesse and Olivia and squeezes with all his might (which is surprisingly less might than usual; Ivor might be right about him needing to recover). Jesse laughs, and Olivia holds him back just as tightly.

“I thought I told you I didn’t want to drag you all the way back home,” Petra says with a light punch to his shoulder. 

Axel gives her a shrug and a small smile. “My bad.”

“If you ever get that sick again, you’re _staying home,_ ” Jesse says severely. “You almost _died._ ”

“Sorry,” Axel says.

“If that happens again, just tell us, okay?” Olivia says.

“It won’t,” Axel reassures her.

“How do you know that?” Lukas’ brow is furrowed ever so slightly as he asks this.

“Just trust me.” Axel smiles at him, and he feels his insides slowly turning to mush as Lukas smiles back, albeit hesitantly, the lightest shade of pink dusting his cheeks. He doesn’t notice they’re staring at each other until Ivor clears his throat. Axel looks away, feeling a little warm in the face.

“So, uh, how’d you guys get home anyway?” he asks.

The others launch into the story of how they somehow managed to haul him through the Nether and back into Beacontown without any of them getting seriously hurt in the process. Axel listens, but as he does, he finds himself stealing glances at Lukas. Lukas catches his eye more often than not, looking more and more flustered each time. Axel loves the way his ears turn red before the rest of his face does. Axel loves the little smile that spreads across his face when he’s caught staring. His heart isn’t pounding, but it’s beating a bit faster than usual. He hopes he can get a moment alone with Lukas after all of this.

“Alright, that’s enough excitement for today,” Ivor says. “Out, all of you.”

“Ivor, come on,” Petra says. “He’s been out for three days!”

“You can catch up more later! He needs to rest.” Ivor starts to usher all of them out.

“Do I get a say in this?” Axel asks.

“The last time you got a say in your health, you nearly died,” Ivor says.

“I mean, he’s got a point,” Lukas admits with a shrug. “We’ll be back soon. Promise.”

“Yeah, okay,” Axel sighs. “See you guys later I guess.”

His friends bid him goodbye, and Axel’s left alone in Ivor’s room. It’s barely been a minute, and he’s already bored out of his mind. Ivor’s bed is comfortable, but Axel wants to go back to his own room. He could try to sneak off to the Order hall, but he’s wary of the combined wrath of Ivor and the rest of his friends. He can survive one night. Axel looks around for something to keep himself occupied. The bookshelves are too far away to reach without getting up. There’s a book at the end of the bed, though. Axel grabs it and thumbs through it, instantly recognizing Lukas’ handwriting. The journal must have fallen out of his jacket. The sound of the door opening makes him look up.

“Uh, sorry,” Lukas says. “I think I left my journal in here.”

“You did,” Axel says. “Mind if I keep looking at it?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lukas puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs in an attempt to appear casual, but Axel can see his ears turning pink. He smiles to himself and keeps looking through the journal, paying more attention to the drawings in the margins than the words. One of a cat with hearts drawn around it draws his eye.

“Hey, this was one of the cats in the mountain village,” Axel says. Lukas bends down to see which drawing Axel’s pointing to. “You can sit down, you know.”

Lukas’ ears darken a shade as he sits down and looks at the drawing of the cat. “Oh yeah! She was hanging around the library when Olivia and I were researching. She was really sweet.”

“What was her name?”

“Charmer. The librarian said he named her that because a lot of the time, people spend more time petting her than looking at books. He said it’s something about her eyes.”

“Did you fall for her tricks?” Axel teases.

“Of course not,” Lukas says, blushing.

“You totally did.”

“Okay, okay, I did! I petted her for like an hour and gave her all of my salmon!” Axel laughs, and Lukas turns redder. “It’s not my fault! She had huge blue eyes! Who can resist that?”

“I know I can’t.”

It’s out of Axel’s mouth before he can think about it. Judging by the look on Lukas’ face, he heard it loud and clear. There’s no backing out of this one. Axel doesn’t think he wants to anyway.

“Uh,” he says intelligently, “did Ivor ever tell you what causes hanahaki disease?”

“No, why?” Lukas asks.

“Well, basically, it happens when you love someone and they don’t feel the same way,” Axel says. “And the potion to cure it makes it so you don’t love that person anymore. Or anything, really.”

“Oh,” Lukas says softly. “So you don’t love whoever it was anymore then?”

“I didn’t need the potion. It goes away on its own if the person loves you back.”

“I guess I don’t need to confess to you then.”

“That’s pretty presumptuous of you.”

Lukas turns beet red. “O-oh god, is it not—did I just—”

“Lukas, shut up, of course it’s you,” Axel says with a note of exasperation in his voice. “Why else would we be having this tender moment?”

“Well, we had a few ‘tender moments’ over the past few weeks, didn’t we?”

“Shut up and kiss me you dumbass.”

Lukas grins sheepishly before leaning forward and kissing him softly. If Axel felt like his insides were turning to mush with just a look before, he feels like he’s melting now. Lukas is warm. He slides one hand through Axel’s hair and brings it back to cup his jaw, his touch so gentle it’s nearly feather-light. Axel leans into him and places one hand on Lukas’ arm with a small sigh through his nose and a low, contented hum.

As Lukas pulls away and looks up at him with bright eyes and a radiant smile, Axel feels something blooming in his chest.

Warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> And so it ends. Thank you to the other members of my Lukaxel discord server (Lukaxel support group) for listening to me yell about this and for motivating me to finish it <3 
> 
> Again, there is SO MUCH I could say about this, but I wouldn't know where to begin. If you want to hear my thoughts on certain points, leave a comment or send me an ask over on my tumblr! (I'm maplemarcher there too) I'd love to talk to you about this!
> 
> Also, if you're interested in the Lukaxel discord, let me know and I'll send you an invite link!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3


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